So September is the 1 year anniversary of the 7* Incursions and Loyalty crystals

Think they will be updated in the next patch?

Comments

Make them cheaper. Make them more readily available. Waiting 45 days is absurd. Also. They need high sigs like kabam said. They are there for a reason. So if they need high sigs why are they so expensive in a gamestate with several op champs at 7* that make them useless at low sig. 🤔

Fryday

When we introduced these crystals, I said they would remain unchanged for at least a year. We deliberately included champions requiring high sig to give them some longevity, in case we decided against updating them. After reviewing the data, we have no plans to update these crystals.

In the case of the AW crystal, the idea was that including a champion chase would result in more players engaging with AW. I can't find any evidence of that. It looks like the same players that always played AW continue to play it, and the same players that didn't play AW continued to not play it. It creates a fun additional chase for those playing AW, but given there was effectively no discernable behaviour change, it seems unwise to use up six more champions in our 7-star runway to update the crystal.

On the Incursions side, our iteration on Saga Incursions has absolutely crushed our engagement targets. More players played Incursions for Arcade Games than any point aside from when Incursions replaced the Side Quest. Similar to AW, I don't believe updating the Incursions pool is going to bring anybody into Incursions that isn't already playing it. It might make a few people do Incursions in off cycles, but Saga Incursions is intended to be the late-game Incursions meta moving forward. So again, burning six champions from the runway to update the crystal for little to no benefit seems unwise.

I am not saying they will literally never change, but I will give players at least a few builds of warning if/when that happens. Until you hear more from us it's safe to assume they are not changing.

Hi @Kabam Crashed,

Thank you taking the time to respond and provide the players will more info.

In regarding to the AW and Incursion champions crystals. Would a simple solution for most players would be an additiional option to purchase regular Basic 7* crystals with Loyalty and Incursion artifacts.

I understand currently there are option to use the Loyalty token to purchase either the AW crystals shard or regularly shards, however that seem some what still restricted for some players. So just give players an option to use the Loyalty they earn to purchase AW crystals shard or normal crystal shards.

Therefore those that not interest in the champion pool in AW and Incursion crystals, they could just by Basic 7* crystals instead.

Darkness275

When we introduced these crystals, I said they would remain unchanged for at least a year. We deliberately included champions requiring high sig to give them some longevity, in case we decided against updating them. After reviewing the data, we have no plans to update these crystals.

In the case of the AW crystal, the idea was that including a champion chase would result in more players engaging with AW. I can't find any evidence of that. It looks like the same players that always played AW continue to play it, and the same players that didn't play AW continued to not play it. It creates a fun additional chase for those playing AW, but given there was effectively no discernable behaviour change, it seems unwise to use up six more champions in our 7-star runway to update the crystal.

On the Incursions side, our iteration on Saga Incursions has absolutely crushed our engagement targets. More players played Incursions for Arcade Games than any point aside from when Incursions replaced the Side Quest. Similar to AW, I don't believe updating the Incursions pool is going to bring anybody into Incursions that isn't already playing it. It might make a few people do Incursions in off cycles, but Saga Incursions is intended to be the late-game Incursions meta moving forward. So again, burning six champions from the runway to update the crystal for little to no benefit seems unwise.

I am not saying they will literally never change, but I will give players at least a few builds of warning if/when that happens. Until you hear more from us it's safe to assume they are not changing.
AW engagement didn't go up, so we're not changing the crystal pool.

Incursions engagement went through the roof, so we're not changing the crystal pool.

Lol what
Not sure if this is a good faith argument or not, but if you read what I wrote, Incursions engagement increased as a result of the work we did with Sagas. The spike happened long after the Incursions crystal was introduced, and it's clear the fact the crystal hasn't been updated is not holding back participation at all.

In fairness, Saga affects both and does so in wildly different ways. The crystals aren't really a factor so to say the pools shouldn't be updated because involvement hasn't improved, except for Saga involvement in Incursions is already kind of tipping the scales.

For starters: There's so many additional rewards tied to the Saga sector for Incursions, where as War is just global nodes and an adjustment to a select pool of champions who become more effective attackers/defenders.

Incursions can be done by a single person, on their own timeline. No additional pressure from external sources.
Alliance War is something many find to be annoying, stressful, and an obligation.

In the one that I can do on my own pace, with no care or concern as to how I might impact someone else's experience: You've increased the rewards with a very gradual shift in difficulty.

In War, I have to worry about my performance impacting other people, I have to do it on a set timeline every other day, because of the nodes and no additional boosts - the limitation of the Saga champion pool is expressed MUCH higher in War than Incursions. In this one, you have increased the risk with absolutely no additional reward.

Let's be fair here. An I am saying this with sincerity and absolutely no malice at all because I don't believe that it was done with any sort of ill intent. But this comparison argument itself isn't starting from a place of good faith. The two modes are not comparable and should not be held to the same standard as to whether or not the crystal pool should be updated.

I completely hear and agree with the hesitation though on not wanting to burn additional champions if the interest isn't there. The incursions crystal pool is one I like, and while I have most of the people I want from it I will probably open additional ones. But let's not ignore one major factor here and benefit the Incursions crystal has over the Alliance War crystal: For an end-game player there's quite literally nothing else of value for me to spend the artifacts on. If the Incursions store were a little more inclusive, allowing me to buy revives and such, boosts that grant additional affects to incursion buffs, shuffle tokens to change incursion buff options, etc... we might have something else to spend them on. Currently, we do not.

There's plenty of things to spend Loyalty on - whether or not we agree with the prices, the options are bountiful.

Alternatively to the Incursions crystal champion pool, I knew almost immediately that I was rarely ever going to go for the Alliance War crystal. I think I opened three, two when it started and one with the shatter shards. I have little to no interest in the remaining champions in that crystal - a combination of I got them from other crystals (like Valentine's) or just have no interest in them. Because of this, I probably won't bother opening another again unless it were updated and now I'm being told that won't be anytime soon.

As far as Incursions go, I'm already doing them. They're a mode I actually like them - so the only potential change this news has to me is to be demotivating as it's maintaining the status quo and stagnation is never really great. Regarding Alliance War, a mode I already don't care about and only do so I'm not kicked from my Alliance. Well, it's certainly not giving me any improved motivation there either.

Darkness275

I tried to revise the above post, but fell outside of the editing window. If that post could be deleted I'd appreciate it.

CavemanOOG

@kabam crashed I mean if y'all want more people to play AW, the reason I stopped playing AW is because the rewards are irrelevant. If I joined a plat 3 war ally, it'd take a full calendar year to get one r3 from war rewards. In a full year I'll probably have 30 r3's and possibly a r4. It doesn't have any impact on my account progression at all. Maybe a few extra 7 star crystals a year, that's it. It's not worth spending any time playing war or talking about war.

Maverick75

@Kabam Crashed
Would it be possible to publish a list of the champions that won’t be released as 7* ?

25% of champions, that means a lot.
The request is in order to upgrade their 6* version to the maximum, without any fear to waste materials (dust and catalysts) because their 7* version is coming.
That would also guide players in their priorities.

Personally, Doom, Hercules and Scorpion were upgraded to the max without any doubt.
But then I am not sure.

JLordVileJ

@Kabam Crashed
Would it be possible to publish a list of the champions that won’t be released as 7* ?

25% of champions, that means a lot.
The request is in order to upgrade their 6* version to the maximum, without any fear to waste materials (dust and catalysts) because their 7* version is coming.
That would also guide players in their priorities.

Personally, Doom, Hercules and Scorpion were upgraded to the max without any doubt.
But then I am not sure.

Yeah, so mad to find out my r5 asc bwdo will be a 7 star

LB8

@Kabam Crashed Thanks for the info. So is it safe to assume the pool won't change atleast until next year?

Also what about banquet and omega days pool (and invisible woman from romance crystal). Any plans on adding them to basic crystal pool soon?
Yes I can say with confidence at this point that the AW and Incursions crystals won't be changing at least until next year.

The current plan is for the 2023 Banquet champions (gifted guardians) to join the basic pool in either December or February 2025, likely December. No plans yet for Invisible woman or the Omega Days champions.

Any update on the 2023 Banquet Champs entering the basic pool after the change on the way the Titan Crystal rotates next year?

Oakenshield

@Kabam Crashed Thanks for the info. So is it safe to assume the pool won't change atleast until next year?

Also what about banquet and omega days pool (and invisible woman from romance crystal). Any plans on adding them to basic crystal pool soon?
Yes I can say with confidence at this point that the AW and Incursions crystals won't be changing at least until next year.

The current plan is for the 2023 Banquet champions (gifted guardians) to join the basic pool in either December or February 2025, likely December. No plans yet for Invisible woman or the Omega Days champions.
Any update on the 2023 Banquet Champs entering the basic pool after the change on the way the Titan Crystal rotates next year?

Well, since my thread has been necro’d…

I would guess that if they were going to bring them into the pool they would have announced it today. I’m thinking that since they have so many other new champs showing up in December that they will probably hold this to Feb instead per Crash’s note.